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Rating: 
Summary: An early memoir by one of our best contemporary writers
Review: Hearing Raban read an excerpt from this book at Seattle's Folklife Festival last year, I "took the bait". At nearby bookstore, I bought copy, read it on the plane-ride back home, and thoroughly enjoyed it.
For years I've been hooked (sorry) on Raban's books, such as "Old Glory", "Bad Land", and "Voyage to Juneau". "Coasting", is apparently a recently-published version of an early work by the author.
It is a memoir of a literal voyage, of a more personal introspective voyage, and of a voyage in the turbulent political waters of M. Thatcher's Britain.
It would be a shame for readers to pass on "Coasting" due to an unfavorable review, apparently based primarily on political differences with the author. I urge readers - and indeed the negative reviewer - to read (re-read?) the chapter, toward the end of the book, regarding Philip Larkin. This recollection of an evening spent with Larkin, apparently one of Raban's mentors, is written with such heartfelt fondness and melancholy that it sincerely moved this reader. It was this excerpt from "Coasting" that charmed a rapt audience at the reading in Seattle. Based on this section, alone, I would recommend this book.
Rating: 
Summary: Great premise foiled by political agenda
Review: The idea of sailing aroung the British Isles in a small boat sounds appealing and will be a dream for all but a few. Unfortunately Raban will lose many reader's beyond the first few chapters as he weaves his leftist anti-establishment banter in with the said theme of the book. I got the feeling he used the book a vehicle for threshing out his politcal bias. Come on, please! I suggest he re-write the book and let it take it's place as a modern nautical classic. He can write so well but this reader had trouble with the fact that Coasting should have been two books, not one.
Rating: 
Summary: A potentially interesting but a flawed and failed book
Review: The title's second line "a private voyage" promises to add depth and context to an already interesting premise for this book. Regrettably, it only serves to degrade, diminish, and ultimately destroys the value and joy in reading this book. In retrospect, it's better to take a pass and go to another book. The author's political and social views that are so arrogant, corrosive, and over-bearing that they all but wash out the other values of this book, which come from his observations of people and places while sailing around the British Isles. The former are unfortunately painted in primary colors, while the latter are done in pastels. The balance in this book between the interesting, nuanced observations and the ham-handed political critiques is so skewed as to make this work not worth the effort to sort through. It's as if one has to sift through pounds of political debris to find an ounce of interesting observational insight. It's not worth it.
Rating:
Summary: A potentially interesting but a flawed and failed book
Review: The title's second line "a private voyage" promises to add depth and context to an already interesting premise for this book. Regrettably, it only serves to degrade, diminish, and ultimately destroys the value and joy in reading this book. In retrospect, it's better to take a pass and go to another book. The author's political and social views that are so arrogant, corrosive, and over-bearing that they all but wash out the other values of this book, which come from his observations of people and places while sailing around the British Isles. The former are unfortunately painted in primary colors, while the latter are done in pastels. The balance in this book between the interesting, nuanced observations and the ham-handed political critiques is so skewed as to make this work not worth the effort to sort through. It's as if one has to sift through pounds of political debris to find an ounce of interesting observational insight. It's not worth it.
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